Tag: 2016 republican debates
Trump The Strong Man’s Campaign Of Revisionist History

Trump The Strong Man’s Campaign Of Revisionist History

If you ask Donald Trump, the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square was just a “riot.” He voiced his patently false view of the crackdown on student protesters in Beijing in 1989 at last night’s debate. This is not the first time Trump has spoke positively of undemocratic governments and politicians during this campaign.

Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper about comments he made supporting oppressive foreign governments, and specifically his comments on the crackdown in 1989, Trump responded with typical ambiguity. “That doesn’t mean I was endorsing that. I was not endorsing it. I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength. And then they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing. It doesn’t mean at all I was endorsing it.” But, just like the David Duke controversy, he didn’t condemn what was a deplorable act of violence against Chinese students demanding representative government, either.

His response isn’t surprising, though, coming from a man whose supporters cite his “strength” as a positive trait they support. Trump has made “strength” a central part of his brand as he barrels towards the Republican nomination. In a victory speech after the South Carolina primary, Trump glorified militarism and strength.

“We’re going to build our military so big, so good, so strong, so powerful that nobody is ever going to mess with us, folks,” he said. One wonders how else he envisions using that big, good, powerful military if he ever becomes president.

Trump’s description of the student-led protests to demand democratic rule in China, which he called riots, runs contrary even to contemporaneous American accounts of what happened that day. On the 25th anniversary of the crackdown, Kate Phillips, an American teaching English in Beijing, wrote her account of the military’s response to the protesting students.

“It was a massacre. Most of the carnage occurred not in the Square or right around it, but in the western-approaching streets that led to the Square. I viewed the videotapes of bloody bodies that came in with camera crews, and I made phone calls to local hospitals and to the Chinese Red Cross,” she said. “We kept a running tally of the number of dead, which had reached 2,600 before everyone was ordered to stop talking to us.” While the death toll has been disputed, there was no doubt that hundreds of people were killed.

Following the violent crackdown, the Chinese state media downplayed the number of civilians killed in the crackdown. According to Phillips, state television spent the next few days exaggerating the number of soldiers who were killed. “The government initiated a whitewashing campaign, insisting that only a handful of civilians had died but that hundreds of soldiers had been beaten to death by rabble-rousers. In the coming days, Chinese television replayed tragic footage of these soldiers’ beatings,” she said.

Trump has singled out China as one of the reasons the U.S. is losing respect and economic strength on the global stage. “China has gotten rich off us,” Trump recently told CNN. “China has rebuilt itself with the money it’s sucked out of the United States and the jobs that it’s sucked out of the United States.” This despite the fact that much of his branded merchandise is made by foreign workers.

The bigger issue, of course, is Trump’s support of the Chinese government’s crackdown on dissent. But it fits with the patent disregard he has displayed for the press, protesters, and political opponents during his campaign. In many ways, Trump’s rhetoric indicates the sort of America he envisions: one that opens up libel laws and restores the “good old days,” when protesters left rallies in stretchers.

Trump’s Islam Comments Draw Fire From Rivals, But Civility Reigns

Trump’s Islam Comments Draw Fire From Rivals, But Civility Reigns

By James Oliphant and Luciana Lopez

MIAMI (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump came under fire from his rivals on Thursday for saying Muslims hate the United States at a debate that was relatively free of the gut-punching attacks that have dominated past encounters.

Trump, the front-runner who could tighten his grip on the Republican presidential nomination battle if he wins Florida and Ohio on Tuesday, defended his belief, as stated in television interviews, that followers of Islam “hate us.”

“We have a serious problem of hate. There is tremendous hate,” Trump said.But Trump’s rivals, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Governor John Kasich said the United States needs to maintain good relations with Muslim countries in the Middle East to help in the fight against Islamic State militants.

“We are going to have to work with people in the Muslim faith even as Islam faces a serious crisis within it,” Rubio said.

Rubio also defended American Muslims as patriots.

“If you go anywhere in the world you’re going see American men and women serving us in uniform that are Muslims,” he said.

“Anyone out there that has the uniform of the United States on and is willing to die for this country is someone that loves America,” he added.

Kasich, looking to win his home state of Ohio on Tuesday in order to keep his candidacy going, said Middle Eastern allies in the Arab world are essential.

“The fact is if we’re going to defeat ISIS, we’re going to have to have those countries,” he said, citing Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

Trump said he would consider between 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops on the ground in the region to help defeat Islamic State, saying he would complete the mission quickly and bring them home to focus on rebuilding the United States.

“We really have no choice, we have to knock out ISIS,” Trump said. “I would listen to the generals, but I’m hearing numbers of 20,000 to 30,000.”

It was the most detailed view yet of Trump’s thinking about Islamic State. He has previously talked of “knocking the hell” out of ISIS without offering specifics.

The CNN-hosted debate took place at a crucial time, days before primary votes in Florida and Ohio that could catapult Trump even further ahead of his rivals despite an intense anti-Trump movement by establishment Republicans who are trying to deny him the party’s presidential nomination.

Both the Florida and Ohio Republican primaries award delegates on a winner-take-all basis, meaning that the winner of the popular vote is awarded the state’s entire slate of delegates.

So far, 25 states and Puerto Rico have held nominating contests, and Trump has amassed a solid lead in the delegate race. According to the Associated Press, Trump has 458 delegates, followed by Cruz at 359, Rubio at 151, and Kasich at 54.

Clinching the Republican nomination requires 1,237 delegates.

Trump on Thursday appeared to try to appear more presidential, something he has pledged often in the past to do so but never has. On Thursday he modulated both the tone of his voice and the tenor of his remarks, which in prior debates have drawn sharp criticism for being vulgar.

“I would say this, we’re all in this together. We’re going to come up with solutions, we’re going to find the answers to things, and so far I can’t believe how civil it has been up here,” Trump said.

The two-hour debate included a sober discussion of pressing challenges from illegal immigration to reform of Social Security to free trade deals, a marked departure from the finger-pointing schoolyard taunts that the candidates have engaged in past debates.

Trump insisted he would impose a tariff, as high as 45 percent, on some imports from countries like China.

Trump said his goal is to encourage production of goods on American soil.

“People will buy products from here,” Trump said. “We’ll build our factories here and we’ll make our own products.”

But Cruz, looking to emerge as Trump’s central challenger and consolidate the party’s anti-Trump vote, said the New York billionaire’s tariff plan would only lead to higher prices for American consumers because companies from the exporting country would increase prices.

“A tariff is a tax on you, the American people,” Cruz said.

Trump said he would pause for a year or two the H1B federal visa program to reduce an influx of foreign workers into the United States.

He acknowledged he has taken advantage of that visa program in order to bring in foreign workers to work at some of his own resort properties. He said he would also pause the issuance of Green Cards, which grant permanent residency, for these workers.

Kasich emphasized the need to control the U.S. southern border with Mexico to stem illegal immigration. He said he would offer a path to legal status, but not citizenship to the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

“We can’t just have people walking in,” Kasich said.

Trump got a fresh injection of campaign momentum on Thursday with plans by rival Ben Carson, who is popular with conservatives, to endorse him.

Trump said Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who dropped out of the race March 4, would endorse him on Friday at an event in Florida.

 

(Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson, Alana Wise, Amanda Becker; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Photo: Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich stand together onstage at the start of the Republican candidates debate sponsored by CNN at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, March 10, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Republicans Blitz Trump At Presidential Debate

Republicans Blitz Trump At Presidential Debate

DETROIT (Reuters) – U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump came under withering attack from rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz at a debate on Thursday as the party’s establishment sought to unite behind a last-ditch anti-Trump effort.

The Fox News Channel debate became a mud-throwing fracas from the outset with tensions mounting over the New York billionaire’s ascendancy and his drive to be the presumptive nominee should he win nominating contests in Florida and Ohio on March 15.

When the Fox questioners showed Trump changing his mind on a variety of topics from the Iraq war to whether to allow Syrian refugees into the United States, Trump shrugged. “You have to show a degree of flexibility,” he said.

At center stage, Trump, 69, defended himself from criticism earlier in the day from 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney and faced further questions about his business record. Trump called Romney a failed candidate.

U.S. senators Rubio, of Florida, and Cruz, of Texas, questioned Trump’s immigration policy and his use of foreign workers at his exclusive Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

Cruz, 45, demanded Trump release the audiotape of an off-the-record session he had with New York Times editorial writers on Jan. 5.

Cruz and others have suggested that in the session Trump might have been more flexible on immigration than in public statements insisting he would build a wall between the United States and Mexico and deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Trump refused to release the tape but said he would be flexible, for instance, on the height of the wall. He also abruptly changed his position on foreign workers, saying more of them who are highly skilled should be allowed to remain in the United States.

 

FOREIGN WORKERS

Rubio, 44, pressed Trump on the foreign workers he has imported to work at his Palm Beach resort, jobs he said could go to Americans. Trump said the workers were for a short November-to-March season.

“People don’t want a short-term job,” Trump said. “So we bring people in and we send people out.”

Rubio asked Trump why he does not bring his clothing-making operations to the United States from China and Mexico if he is so interested in bringing jobs home, a central tenet of his unconventional campaign.

“This little guy has lied so much about my record,” Trump said in response to Rubio, adding that he had begun bringing some clothing operations home from overseas.

But Rubio persisted: “The answer is he’s not going to do it … The reason he makes it in China and Mexico is because he can make more money on it.”

“Don’t worry about it, little Marco, I will,” Trump said dismissively.

“Well, let’s hear it, big Donald,” Rubio responded.

Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly, who famously clashed with Trump at the first Republican debate last August, generated a fresh exchange in pressing Trump to explain his involvement with Trump University, a now-defunct online education company that has faced lawsuits from people who feel they paid out money for Trump U and got nothing in return.

“Give me a break,” said Trump. “Let’s see what happens in court. This is a civil case. It’s very easy to have been settled.”

Rubio accused Trump of fleecing everyday Americans for personal gain.

“He’s trying to do to the American voter what he did to the people who signed up for this course,” Rubio said.

Trump called Rubio a “con artist” for missing a lot of Senate votes.

The debate went down a negative path early on when Trump responded to Rubio’s contention last month that Trump had “small hands.”

“Look at these hands,” Trump said, flashing his two hands to the crowd. To the suggestion that he might be small elsewhere, Trump said: “I guarantee you there is no problem.”

 

SUPPORT FOR CLINTON

Cruz suggested Trump would be the wrong candidate to send into battle against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton because he has supported her financially in the past.

“Actually it was for business,” Trump replied. “Let me tell you something, Ted, the last person that Hillary Clinton wants to face is Donald Trump.”

Trump was joined on stage at the Fox Theatre by his three remaining rivals, Rubio, Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, who again presented himself as rising above the squabbling of his rivals.

It’s a far smaller field than the 17 Republican candidates that began the race for the 2016 presidential nomination, but one that is still splintered between the incendiary New York businessman and three experienced politicians.

The debate was the candidates’ first face-to-face gathering since Super Tuesday nominating contests this week gave extra momentum to Trump but did not knock out his rivals.

Mainstream figures in the party are seeking a strategy to halt Trump’s march to the nomination for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.

Some party leaders and donors are critical of Trump’s positions on trade and immigration, including his calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants and temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country.

 

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Howard Goller)

Photo: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump remains standing at the front of the stage as rivals Marco Rubio (L), Ted Cruz (2nd R) and John Kasich (R) head to their podiums at the start of the U.S. Republican presidential candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young

Rand Paul Plans To Bypass ‘Happy Hour’ Debate, Will Make Pitch Directly To Voters

Rand Paul Plans To Bypass ‘Happy Hour’ Debate, Will Make Pitch Directly To Voters

By Kurtis Lee, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Rand Paul will not be on the main debate stage Thursday night in South Carolina and, for now at least, he’s sticking with his refusal to partake in the undercard debate.

The Kentucky senator’s displeasure with Fox Business Network, whose criteria left him on the outside looking in, has been clear in the onslaught of email blasts to supporters and social media posts from his campaign over the last 24 hours.

And instead of participating in the so-called “happy hour” debate alongside former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Carly Fiorina and former Sen. Rick Santorum, he’ll be out on the campaign trail.

“He won’t participate,” said Sergio Gor, Paul’s spokesman, in an email, noting the candidate is scheduled to campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire.

For Paul, the son of libertarian icon and former Rep. Ron Paul, his absence from the debate signifies a slow, consistent decline.

When he announced his candidacy last spring, Paul labeled himself a “different kind of Republican” and sought to make inroads with voters who do not tend to traditionally vote for the party.

He traveled to inner cities, visiting leaders of black communities, and talked about issues such as reducing penalties for drug use as he courted young and minority voters.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times over the summer, he said his message of party outreach to minorities has resonated.

“I’m a believer that for the Republican Party to grow, we need to be a broader, more diverse party,” he said.

But if Paul, best known for his libertarian leanings, believes his message is working, he is clearly struggling with the majority-white GOP primary electorate in the early-nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

He’s consistently polled toward the bottom of the field. An average of state polls in Iowa currently has him hovering around 3 percent, and in New Hampshire he’s at about 4 percent.

While he plans to pass on an opportunity to debate his challengers Thursday on television, he hopes, perhaps, his message will resonate directly with voters three weeks before the first ballots are cast in the 2016 election.

©2016 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul speaks at the Growth and Opportunity Party at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa, October 31, 2015.  REUTERS/Brian C. Frank